Ethiopia

Chelbesa

Delicate florals and bright currants

Delicate florals and bright currants create an excellent example of the Yirgacheffe profile in this lot by the METAD group.

The conditions in Yirgacheffe lead to some of the highest quality raw material in the coffee belt.

Producer
METAD
Coffee expression
A floral & acidic coffee

Regular price: $23.00
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Sale price: $23.00
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The clear florals and bright and sweet currant notes lead to an excellent representation of the Ethiopian profile.

Washed Heirloom

Chelbesa

Chelbesa is produced by METAD, a family-run business driven by three brothers, Michael, Aman and Tariku Adinew. They own several mills in the Oromia region, including in some of the most iconic Ethiopian coffee towns, like Yirgacheffe. METAD encourage and provide training in environmentally sustainable farming practices; many of their coffees are certified organic. This lot comes from one of METAD’s largest washing stations in the Gedeb region, at Halo Beriti. METAD have a very in depth and precise system of traceability, making sure that coffee delivered from different towns and on different days is kept separate throughout the process. Therefore, we know that this lot comes from farmers around the village of Chelbesa, and that it is grown between 2100 and 2300 masl.

Ethiopia’s mode of growing, with a high level of biodiversity, healthy fertile soils, and excellent climatic conditions lead to some of the highest quality raw material we find anywhere in the coffee belt. This means very little influence from process on the final cup is required, which this very clean washed lot illustrates perfectly. In the cup, this leads to a highly concentrated sweetness and bright currant notes, while maintaining the floral character that we so enjoy in Ethiopian coffees.

Ethiopia

Forest coffee growing

There are three categories of forest coffee growing in Ethiopia, Forest Coffee (FC), Semi-Forest Coffee (SFC), and Forest Garden Coffee (FGC), with each having an increasing amount of intervention from coffee producers. Forest coffee makes up a total of approximately 60% of Ethiopia’s yearly output, so this is a hugely important method of production, and part of what makes Ethiopian coffee so unique.

Throughout all of these systems, a much higher level of biodiversity is maintained than in modern coffee production in most of the rest of the world. This is partly due to the forest system, and partly down to the genetic diversity of the coffee plants themselves. There are thousands of so far uncategorised ‘heirloom’ varieties growing in Ethiopia; all descended from wild cross pollination between species derived from the original Arabica trees. This biodiversity leads to hardier coffee plants, which don’t need to be artificially fertilised. This means that 95% of coffee production in Ethiopia is organic, although most small farmers and mills can’t afford to pay for certification, so can’t label their coffee as such. The absence of monoculture in the Ethiopian coffee lands also means plants are much less susceptible to the decimating effects of diseases such as leaf rust that have ripped through other producing countries.

Semi-wild coffee forest

In Ethiopia, coffee still grows semi-wild, and in some cases completely wild. Apart from some regions of neighbouring South Sudan, Ethiopia is the only country in which coffee is found growing in this way, due to its status as the genetic birthplace of arabica coffee. This means in many regions, small producers still harvest cherries from wild coffee trees growing in high altitude humid forests, especially around Ethiopia’s famous Great Rift Valley.

Technical Data

Producer
METAD
Region
Yirgacheffe
Altitude
2200 masl
Varietal
Heirloom
Process
Washed
Harvest
January 2022

Washed Process

The washed process involves completely removing both the cherry and the mucilage from the outside of the parchment with the use of friction, fermentation and water. After being harvested, the coffee cherry is then sliced open by either a metal or a sharp plastic blade.

The two seeds (also known as beans) are pushed out of the cherry, which leaves the seed with mucilage as their outermost layer. It is essential in the washed process that all mucilage is removed from the seed which leaves only the flavour that developed in the cell structure of the seed prior to processing.